Stargate: For Whom the Bell Tolls
by SteelDragon1981
Summary: Jack O'Neill and Samantha Carter are finally getting married. As Carter prepares to retire as the head of Stargate Command and Daniel Jackson plans to leave the SGC for the Smithsonian, Jack visits the retired Teal'c on Chulak to recruit him as a groomsman. But an old enemy lurks, seeking one final showdown with the original members of SG-1 before they ride off into the sunset.
1. Chapter 1

It had been years since Jack stepped through a Stargate, he'd forgotten the toll it takes on a body. He always imagined it must be how dough feels under a rolling pin. He needed a second to catch his breath as he stepped into the warm, dusty Chulak evening. Chulak's yellow sun had mostly set, only a sliver of it appeared over the mountains to the east, the white sun hung slightly higher in the sky. Jack pulled up the sleeve of his brown leather jacket and checked his watch, both suns would descend below the horizon within the hour. He removed his sunglasses and scanned the stones around the Stargate, his eyes settling on three robed figures making their way up the path, one massive form towering over two smaller ones. Jack couldn't help the grin as he beheld the figure, climbing down the steps as the Stargate deactivated behind him with that familiar woosh sound.

The tall, muscular man's face was fixed in its usual stoic repose, but a broad, genuine smile spread as Jack drew closer. "General O'Neill, it is good to see you again."

"Teal'c, for the last time, I'm retired. It's just Jack now," Jack implored. He knew already that his efforts would be futile.

"A great warrior never loses his titles, O'Neill," Teal'c reminded him. "For a warrior remains a warrior up until his death."

"Yep," Jack affirmed. "I knew you were going to say that. So who are these strangers?" Jack asked, gesturing to the children accompanying Teal'c.

"You remember my children, do you not?" Teal'c asked sternly, as usual, Jack's subtle joke eluded his comprehension.

Naturally Jack knew Teal'c's young children. They were born from his wife Ishta, the Jaffa high priestess who served as leader of the all-female Hak'tyl resistance. She and Teal'c had married after he retired from Stargate Command. "Of course I do, they've just gotten so big," Jack remarked, looking between the two boys. "Bray'toc," he called the older boy who had been named in honor of Tealc's mentor, "Daniel," he said to the youngest in greeting. "Jeeze, Teal'c, they're growing like weeds."

"It is the way of things, General O'Neill," Teal'c announced. "We mark the passage of our years in the faces of our children. A lesson Rya'c is learning for himself with his own children."

"Right," Jack recalled as they began walking up the path. "How is Rya'c these days?"

"He is well," Teal'c replied. "I do not see him as much as I would like since he relocated to Dakara."

"Dakara?"

"Indeed," Teal'c replied. "He now serves as the head of the Free Jaffa High Council."

"Like you did," Jack remarked.

"No," Teal'c said with a slight grin. "He is much more suited to the machinations of political life than I ever was. Great warriors do not often make great political leaders."

"Ah," Jack concluded with a nod. "Kinda sounds like Game of Thrones."

Teal'c stopped, canting his head to look at Jack as he searched his memory. "I am not familiar with this game," he admitted. "It is not one I learned to play during my stay with the Tau'ri."

"Right," Jack replied flatly. "I forget, you've been gone a long time."

"Indeed I have," Teal'c affirmed. "I am always happy to see you O'Neill, but you have yet to divulge the reason behind your visit."

"Can't a guy stop in to see an old friend?" Jack asked.

"Indeed. However, I have found the case to be that undomesticated equines could not tear you away from your fishing pond since your retirement," the large Jaffa explained. "I have not seen you since Ishta and I were joined."

"Ah, yeah, about that," Jack's voice trailed off as he reached into the pocket of his jacket. He produced a crisp, white envelope with Teal'c's name printed in calligraphic handwriting. "This is the reason I came to see you."

"What is this?" Teal'c asked as he tore open the envelope. Jack watched silently as the big man examined the picture on the folded piece of cardstock, before opening it. "The honor of your presence is requested at the marriage of Jonathan J. O'Neil and Samantha E. Carter..." Teal'c raised an eyebrow towards Jack. "You and General Carter are to be joined?"

"Indeed," Jack said with a haphazard shrug.

Teal'c gave one of his usual subtle nods of agreement. "I believe the appropriate Earth saying is, 'It's about damn time!' Come, General O'Neill. Tonight we will celebrate this momentous occasion, tomorrow we will honor the grave of Bray'tac and you may return to Earth."

"Actually, I kinda need you to come with me, T, to get measured for your tux," Jack informed him. "Well, if you agree, that is. I would like you to be one of my groomsman."

"Groomsman?"

"Yeah," Jack explained. "Tough job. Hafta wear a tux. Stand there quietly."

"I do not believe this task will present me with any difficulty," Teal'c informed Jack.

"You have to smile," Jack added. The corners of Tealc's mouth curled upwards and his eye widened as he...made a passable and sincere attempt at smiling. However, the effort it took him to force the expression was evident in its exaggeration of his features. O'Neill winced. "We'll work on that."

"Are there to be any more of these groomsmen?" Teal'c queried.

"Yeah," Jack replied. "A few. Sam's got five bridesmaids. Vala, Cassie, Jennifer Hailey, Dr. Lam and she was hoping to ask Ishta, actually."

"That must be why Samantha Carter has asked her to partake of a midday meal on Earth next week," Teal'c reasoned. "How many of your groomsmen have you secured?"

"Uh, two," Jack admitted sheepishly. "I've got Daniel as best man, and, well, you." Teal'c frowned. "What's wrong, Teal'c?"

"Though I have great respect for Daniel Jackson and all his accomplishments, I do believe myself to be the superior warrior," Teal'c announced.

"And what does that have to do with anything?"

"I believe this makes me the best man," Teal'c reasoned.

"It's not based on..." Jack's voice trailed off. "Well, if you and Daniel _do_ want to fight it out…"

Teal'c shook his head. "I do believe the injuries Daniel Jackson would sustain in the conflict would be detrimental to the proceedings. As long as it is understood that his is only a ceremonial title."

"Yeah, I'll send a memo," Jack assured the Jaffa.

* * *

Samantha Carter was taping up a cardboard box in her Cheyenne Mountain office when Daniel Jackson knocked on the door. She lifted her blue eyes to him and offered a smile as she struggled to cut the packing tape with the blade built into the dispenser. Daniel took this as his cue to enter, setting a folder down on her desk and seating himself in one of the chairs facing it. Once Sam had successfully cut the tape, she slid the box off the side of her desk to rest atop an identical one labeled, "Gen. Samantha Carter - Office," in big black handwritten letters. She sat down in her chair, writing the same thing on this box with a big, black Sharpie. Once that was done, she recapped the marker and looked across to Daniel. "Daniel," she sighed, content with finishing that task.

"Can't you order someone to do that?" Daniel asked, gesturing to the boxes beside her desk.

"I can, but I want to do the packing myself," she admitted. "There are a lot of memories to sort through. Decide what I want to take, what I want to leave. A lamp I don't want anyone to know I'm stealing." Sam laughed, before examining the folder Daniel had set before her. She opened it and looked at the first page for a second, but quickly returned her attention to Daniel "So what's this?"

"Final inventory of my office and lab," Daniel replied. "I need your signature before I check out."

Samantha sighed softly as she glanced back down at the pages in the folder, shaking her head wistfully. "It's so strange to imagine leaving this place," she finally said. "I remember when it seemed like we'd never defeat Apophis, much less the System Lords. And then The Replicators, The Ori, Baal's last clones; now what's left?"

"Not much in this galaxy," Daniel answered. "The Lucien Alliance is out there, but they seem to avoid picking a direct fight with us. There is, of course, the Wraith in Pegasus, but the Atlantis Expedition is holding the line and keeping them out of our galaxy."

"Now that Atlantis is back out there," Samantha reminded Daniel.

"Yes," Daniel agreed. "Jack's last great conflict, as he put it. Convincing the IOA that Atlantis was needed out there to keep the Wraith from coming back here."

"They wanted to dismantle it for the tech," Samantha recalled.

"I can't believe more didn't change after it crashed into the San Francisco Bay," Daniel said blithely. "I mean yes, now everyone knows about aliens, and the fleet. They know some of our secrets and they know about some of the battles, but we still have kept the Stargate a secret. They still don't know about so many of those early battles, like Apophis or your Replicator clone."

"I'd just as soon nobody ever knows about that last one," Sam said coolly. "That's the nature of plausible deniability," she added. "Cover up as much as you can, even if part of the truth leaks out."

"I'm not sure I agree with that policy," Daniel opined.

"It is what it is," Sam countered. "There are some things that are still too big for the world. The Ancients. The Ori. The fact that most of the ancient pantheons of gods were aliens pretending. Even the benevolent ones like the Asgard. Some day the world will be ready for the truth."

"But will its governments be willing to tell it?" Daniel quipped cynically.

Samantha could only laugh. "Still don't fully trust the establishment," Sam noted.

"Well, as an archaeologist, I've seen countless examples where governments concealed crucial information and the ramifications of it," Daniel began. "And how many times did we see lies used to cow people and keep them living in fear and servitude?" He shook his head, letting out an exasperated sound. "I suppose it's not really my fight anymore, is it?"

Sam shrugged. "It could be. They'd still love you to take over for me," she said, gesturing around the office as though offering it to Daniel.

Daniel shook his head briefly before saying, "No. I didn't want the job when you announced your retirement. I don't want it now. I have the job I want waiting for me."

"Director of the Smithsonian," Sam said. "Congratulations on that, by the way."

"Thank you," Daniel replied with a broad smile. "Twenty years ago, I couldn't even dream about getting this job. I was laughed out of the academic community for my theories."

"Theories which were right," Sam reminded him.

"What a difference having a giant city ship crash in San Francisco makes," Daniel gloated. "Suddenly all of my papers are re-published and I've got five book publishers fighting for the rights to my work."

"Kinda gratifying, isn't it?" Sam asked.

"You're damn right it is," Daniel laughed. "Long time coming. Speaking of a long time coming," his gaze settled on the diamond ring on Sam's left hand. "How's the planning coming?"

"It's…" her voice trailed off as she shook her head. "Jack's being Jack. He doesn't care about the details. I showed him invitations, he said, 'Pick one.' I showed him China patterns, he couldn't tell the difference. I finally had to enlist Vala."

"Yeah, thanks for that," Daniel interjected sarcastically. "You've given her wedding fever, she wants to know if we're next."

"Well?" Sam looked across her desk expectantly. "Are you? How long have you two been together now?"

"Five years," Daniel answered. "Vala is, well, she's Vala. I don't know. Sometimes I don't know how seriously she takes any of this."

"Vala Mal Doran is a complicated woman, I'll give you that," Samantha admitted, "But I have never doubted her affection for you. You shouldn't either."

"I don't, but..." Daniel quickly ran out of any thoughts he might string together to complete the sentence. Suddenly the incoming wormhole alarm sounded in the gate room, causing Daniel to sigh with visible relief. He practically sprung from his chair and out to the briefing room. Sam followed at a slightly slower pace, down the spiral staircase, and into the control room.

As ever, Walter Herriman sat at the gate controls, glancing over his shoulder as Daniel and Sam entered and looked through the windows at the gate room below. "It's SG-1 returning from P4X-281 ma'am," Herriman informed Samantha.

"Open the iris," Carter commanded. A few moments after the iris opened, the members of SG-1 stepped through. John Sheppard and Ronon Dex came through first, followed quickly by Major Jennifer Hailey. A few seconds later, Dr. Cassandra Frazier stepped through, most likely having been the one who dialed the gate and lingered the longest, as she often did. Sam pressed the intercom button. "SG-1 report," she demanded.

"Mission was successful, ma'am," Sheppard announced. "We found an abandoned Trinium mine, just like Dr. Jackson's text said we would."

"Debrief in 5," Sam ordered. Sheppard nodded, leading Ronon, Hailey, and Cassandra out of the gate room.

"Do you ever get used to _them_ being SG-1?" Daniel asked Sam as the pair of them climbed up the stairs and into the briefing room.

"Not fully," Sam admitted as she took her customary seat at the end of the long table. Daniel, being her second in command, took the chair immediately to her right.

"I suppose we have to accept that our time has come and gone," Daniel lamented. "My lab is now Cassandra's lab. Or it will be in a few weeks."

"It still stings every time I have to leave R&D and let Hailey and Cassie figure out whatever problem is bothering us," Samantha admitted. "It hurts more that they no longer seem to need my help," she added quietly.

"Well, you did hand-pick Hailey from the academy," Daniel reminded her. "That had to be because you saw the potential in her."

"It was," Sam agreed.

"And Cassandra's enhanced physiological capabilities extended to her mind," Daniel added. "She's got an MD, and two Ph.D.s already. And she just submitted her doctoral thesis in Archaeology, and once they review that, she'll have Ph.D. number three."

"I'm not saying that Jennifer and Cassandra aren't brilliant," Samantha protested. "I just wish they'd have let me pass the torch. It feels more like they yanked the darn thing out of my hands when I was up here doing meaningless paperwork." She and Daniel sighed and then broke out into a laugh. "Listen to us, telling stories. When did we get this old?"

"I don't know," Daniel responded, "But seeing as the odds were against us living this long? I plan to enjoy it."

"Technically you didn't live this long," Samanta reminded him.

"Oh, shut up," Daniel said with a groan. "I died and came back twice. The rest of those times I was only presumed dead."

"Fair enough," Sam granted him as SG-1 stepped into the conference room.

"...just saying that if you really wanted more action, you should have stayed in Atlantis," was the tail end of the conversation Col. John Sheppard was having with Ronon Dex as they walked in.

"Yeah, well, I couldn't see taking orders from the geek," Ronon barked in his usual, dour growl.

"I know you grew to like Rodney," John argued as he and the rest of his team sat down.

"I like him just fine working _with_ him. Working _for_ him is a different story," Ronon countered. "I notice you didn't stick around once he got the job."

"Actually, he left because if he didn't they were going to _give_ him the job," General Carter interjected. "Colonel Sheppard turned down half a dozen promotions to stay in the field."

"Yeah, but in the end they got me," Sheppard lamented, prompting a laugh from everyone not named Ronon. "Anyway, our mission report, General Carter?"

"Please," Sam implored.

"As you know," Sheppard began, "We've been looking for sources of trinium so we could begin construction on the first series of Archangel Class battlecruisers. Dr. Jackson's research into the Asgard database yielded a gate address he thought was, uh, someone's workshop?"

As Sheppard glanced over at Cassandra Frazier, she spoke up, "Wayland the Smith, most likely. We think he must have been an Asgard ship builder. Norse myths don't have a specific smithing god, like Hephaestus of Greek mythology, or Vulcan in Roman mythology. Wayland was said to have been a legendary smith imprisoned by King Niðhad and forced to labor. Now as we've discovered many times, the human tellings of legends are distortions, embellished upon as they were handed down through the centuries. And there's any number of incon…" Cassie looked around the table. Major Hailey was rolling her eyes, Sheppard had long-since tuned out, Ronon had his head down and was in danger of falling asleep, General Carter was patiently waiting for Cassie to say something important; only Daniel was actually interested in what she had to say. She flustered and quietly finished, "We think we found an abandoned Asgard mining operation."

"I see," Samantha nodded. "And you think it's a trinium mine?"

"Preliminary soil samples look promising," Major Jennifer Hailey announced. "I'm convinced enough to send a geological survey to take core samples."

"Were you able to determine why the Asgard abandoned it?" General Carter asked.

"We found small piles of inert replicator blocks scattered through the facility we explored," Hailey responded. "Looked like a few hundred of the bugs had been there. Possibly a small scouting detachment, or part of a larger force. No way to tell when they died."

"Most likely at the firing of the Dakara superweapon," Cassandra added.

"Most likely," Hailey concurred.

"And did you find any other lifeforms?" Carter wondered.

"Nothing," Ronon growled. "It didn't seem like anyone had been there in years. Place was still as a grave."

"Okay," Carter concluded. "Hailey, I want you to put a geological survey team together for departure tomorrow at 0800. While they drill for their sample, you and Cassandra will see if you can get the facility's systems online."

"Yes ma'am," Hailey said.

"Ronon, you take a security team and start establishing an off-world habitat."

"Alright," the big man agreed.

"And I'll make a fire and roast some marshmallows," Sheppard volunteered.

"That won't be necessary, Colonel Sheppard. In fact, I don't see a reason for you to go on this mission," Cater told him. Sheppard scowled, sulking as he sunk into his chair. Sam glowered at her subordinate. "Colonel, you stay. The rest of SG-1, you're dismissed." As the rest of the team left, General Carter focused on the now-sullen Colonel John Sheppard. "John, what the hell is your problem?" she demanded.

"I dunno," he replied, staring into the surface of the table at the faint reflections in its polished surface.

"I think I do," Carter offered. "John, you're taking over this command in a few weeks. You had to know that your off world trips had to stop sometime."

"Do they?" Sheppard asked. "I could still go with SG-1 every now and then."

"That's what Jack thought, too," Daniel offered. "And then he quickly found that running this base is a full-time job in and of itself. In the beginning, he thought he'd still have time for off world trips, but he only made about a half-dozen."

"I had to deal with the same thing, John," Carter confessed. "I know it's not easy. But you have responsibilities here that need your attention. You need to prepare to take over in ten weeks. Effective immediately, I'm removing you from SG-1. Today was your last mission."

"Yes ma'am, I suppose you're right," John admitted somberly.

"Have you decided who will take your place?" Jackson asked him.

"I want to promote Major Hailey to LTC and have her take over," John replied, "She's ready."

"I'll start the paperwork," Sam announced cheerfully.

"Thank you ma'am, but can I make a request?" Sheppard interjected.

"You can," Carter said. "I can't promise I'll grant it."

"I'd like to be the one who pins her, ma'am," John said. "Sort of handing off the torch and all that. Make it my first 'official' act as head of Stargate Command."

"Dr. Jackson and I were just having a discussion about passing torches," Sam chuckled. "I think that's a wonderful idea. Who will be the fourth member of SG-1, then?"

"I'm going to let Hailey pick," John told her. "General O'Neill always picked his people when he ran the team. General Mitchell picked his people. You let me pick my people when I came here. It only seems right."

"Fair enough," Samantha granted.

Suddenly there was an alarm from the gate room. "Unscheduled off world activation," Herriman called over the intercom. Sam, Daniel, and Sheppard all jogged down to the control room. "Receiving General O'Neill's IDC, ma'am."

"Open the iris!" she exclaimed, taking Daniel by the hand to lead him down the stairs towards the gate room. Teal'c and Jack stepped through the event horizon and into the room. Sam ran over, practically leaping into Teal'c arms to hug the man. As he embraced her, she kissed him on the cheek. "Teal'c! It's been too long."

"Indeed it has, General Carter," he replied. "Daniel Jackson! It is also good to see you again."

Daniel and Teal'c exchanged a brief hug, nothing like the vociferous glomping Samantha had subjected the large Jaffa to. "Good to see you, big guy," Daniel grinned. "Uh, just out of curiosity, how many 'indeeds' did Jack get out of you before he gave you the invitation?"

"I believe it was three," Teal'c replied. "Why?"

"Pay up," Daniel said, holding his hand out to O'Neill. Jack reluctantly reached into his pocket and handed Daniel a $20 bill. "I told you, you couldn't get five."

"Yeah," Jack admitted. "I tried."

As the four of them turned to walk down the ramp, they noticed just about everyone in the gate room and the control room had their cell phones out taking pictures. "What in the," Daniel asked in a half-question.

"You'll have to forgive them," Sheppard announced over the intercom, he himself holding a phone. "Oh, uh, and me. This is the first time most of them have seen you four together."

"Ah fer cryin' out loud," Jack scoffed.

"Easy, Jack," Carter said slipping an arm around his waist.

"Like it or not," Daniel said, "We're heroes to a lot of these people."

"Alright," Carter yelled. "You have ten seconds. Give them a wave, guys." Jack, Sam, and Daniel waved to the amateur photographers. Teal'c stood, as ever, hands clasped behind his back, with his usual stoic expression on his face. After what was actually closer to fifteen seconds, General Carter cleared her throat. "Alright, everyone back to work!"


	2. Chapter 2

It was after sunset when Teal'c returned to the home the Free Jaffa of Chulak had built for him from the stones taken from Apophis' palace. He stepped through the door, divesting himself of his dusty traveling cloak and hanging it on a rack next to Ishta's. He kneeled down to embrace his sons Bray'toc and Daniel as they rushed to greet him. The act never failed to bring a smile to his normally impassive facade, a genuine smile, as opposed to the expression he made when Jack told him he would have to do so at the wedding. As Teal'c hugged his sons, he beheld Ishta serving the evening meal in the dining room. Eventually, the big Jaffa stood and commanded his children, "Go and wash yourselves, your mother has nearly finished the evening meal." As the boys traipsed down the hall, Teal'c joined Ishta in the kitchen. "It is good to be home," he proclaimed, wrapping his arms around his wife's waist while she stirred a pot on the stove.

"You do not miss your adventures among the Tau'ri?" Ishta questioned.

"That time in my life has passed," Teal'c replied. "Look at all we have Ishta. A beautiful home built from the ruins of those who used to oppress us. We have children born free of the Goa'uld. They will never carry a symbiote, or be sent to die in the name of false gods. They will never kneel to tyrants."

"And you have a beautiful wife to stand by your side as you enjoy a well-earned rest," Ishta said with a playful grin as she turned in Teal'c's grasp to face him.

"Indeed," he said in a low, smooth baritone. As Teal'c and Ishta kissed passionately, they were interrupted by their sons running into the dining room.

Ishta laughed as she broke her lips away from Teal'c's, "Come, husband. We will return to these thoughts after the children are in bed."

"Indeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed."

Bray'toc and Daniel sat at the table as Teal'c and Ishta set the evening meal out across it. "You guys were kissing, I saw you," Bray'toc announced.

"So what?" Daniel asked.

"If they kiss too much, we're gonna wind up with another little brother," Bray'toc complained.

"How do you know such things?" Ishta demanded of her oldest son.

"That's how we got this one," Bray'toc replied, with a jerk of his head towards Daniel. "You guys kissed a lot, and then you said you were having a baby."

Teal'c and Ishta laughed at Bray'toc's reasoning, which was sound, if incomplete.

"How was Earth, father?" Daniel asked quietly.

"A most pleasant trip," Teal'c answered. "I got to see friends I have not seen in several years, Including the man in whose honor you were named, Daniel. General O'Neill wishes to grant me a great honor by allowing me to stand at his side as he is joined to General Carter. General Carter wishes to extend the same honor to your mother."

"She does?" Ishta exclaimed. "This must be the reason she has invited me to have lunch next week on Earth."

"I believe it is," Teal'c said with a nod. "It is an important ceremonial duty in Tau'ri weddings, you will have to be fitted for a tuxedo, I believe," Teal'c explained, before something caused him to freeze. "Quiet," he demanded, however, his sons kept chatting idly. "QUIET!" Everyone in the room froze. Teal'c held up a hand when he heard Ishta draw in a breath to speak, then he dove across the table, grabbing Bray'toc and Daniel by their shirts and dragging them to the floor as the window in the living room was shattered and zat'nik'tel blasts fired through it rapidly. Ishta dove to the floor and scrambled over to a black metal case built into the wall. She opened the door, revealing two staff weapons and four zats of their own. She slid one of the staff weapons along the floor to Teal'c and took the other for herself. Teal'c shoved his sons under the table. "Stay here until your mother or I tell you to move," he ordered.

Teal'c looked to the window, he saw two shadowed silhouettes of men pointing zats into his home. He rolled out of the way of two more shots fired at him, and got to his knees, pressing his back up against the stone wall between the dining and living rooms. Ishta held a similar position on the other side of the dining room. Teal'c thumbed towards his own chest, and then pointed right. Ishta nodded. Suddenly husband and wife emerged from behind the wall. Teal'c fired right, Ishta fired left. Three bolts struck each man and they fell over. Before Teal'c could confirm any kills, the front door was blown off its hinges. "DOWN," Teal'c barked. As Ishta dove, Teal'c filled the doorway with staff fire, striking down three more men brandishing bronze snake-like zat guns. In the light, Teal'c could see that these men were wearing Jaffa armor.

"GET THE SHOL'VA," a voice cried from the dining room window behind Teal'c.

"Move, husband," Ishta shouted. Teal'c moved out of her line of fire, allowing Ishta to bring down a Jaffa trying to hit him with another Zat.

"They carry only zat'nik'tels," Teal'c announced. "They are here to take me."

"Over my dead body," Ishta cursed.

Two more Jaffa tried the living room window, firing zats at Teal'c, but he strafed effortlessly to his left and brought them down with staff blasts. "We do not know their numbers," Teal'c reasoned. "We should leave."

"Agreed," Ishta said, flipping her staff around to cut down two more in the front door.

"Children, come to me," Teal'c ordered. Though frightened, his sons climbed out from under the table as the kitchen door was kicked in by another Jaffa who didn't last long. "The front of the house is clear, and we can get to town or to the chappa'ai quickly." Teal'c turned to what was left of his living room window and swing his staff around the edges to break any remaining shards of glass that may linger. Ishta jumped through the window and into the front yard. Teal'c set his staff weapon down and handed Bray'toc through the window to his mother. As he lifted Daniel, a zat blast barely missed the boy, hitting Tealc's staff. Something in the core of the weapon popped, and white smoke came from the device. Teal'c hastily handed the boy to his wife, and turned to face three Jaffa coming through his kitchen. "Go, I will handle this."

Teal'c grabbed his staff and ran towards the kitchen, but when the trigger didn't produce blasts from the weapon, he abandoned it. He dodged the only shot the three men managed to squeeze off between them, grabbing the man on the left's wrist. He spun the man around and shoved him towards the other two, wrenching his arm to force him to drop his weapon. A savage elbow took the first man down. Teal'c diverted the falling man out of his path and set upon the next, grabbing his throat and pinning him to the wall. The last man tried to get enough space to fire at Teal'c, but the big man grabbed the Jaffa's arm and twisted it until he heard a pop, and the man dropped his weapon. Teal'c dispatched him with a shinbone kick to the face, all while still choking the third man, whom he now turned to. "Who sent you?" Teal'c demanded.

Before the Jaffa could answer, Teal'c beheld a terrible site, one he had not seen in many years. The black armored warrior smashed into Teal'c kitchen, tearing through the stone and mortar wall as though it were paper. Teal'c froze for a moment at the site of the Anubis drone warrior. He had thought them all dead. A series of staff blasts striking the creature's armor ineffectively drew Teal'c attention out of his shocked state. Ishta, having never seen a Kull Warrior herself, stared at the creature her jaw agape as her expertly-placed staff blasts did nothing to the thing.

"Ishta, take the children and flee," Teal'c commanded, as he charged at the mighty Kull. The drone was aiming one of its wrist-mounted blasters at his wife, but Teal'c managed to knock the blast off course, with a mighty blow towards the creature's extended arm. The creature retaliated by grabbing Teal'c with it's free arm and throwing him through the wall and out onto the dining room table, which shattered as Teal'c struck it.

"I won't leave you," Ishta vowed, firing another pointless volley into the creature's chest.

Teal'c forced himself up to his feet and charged the fearsome warrior, calling out to his wife without looking. "Do not worry for me, worry for our sons," Teal'c pleaded as he drove his shoulder into the drone, barely causing it to teeter. Teal'c brought both his hands up to block the creature's heavy blows, but his arms were soon too sore to hold up, and he was driven to his knees by a massive fist in his jaw. Teal'c crawled through the rubble of his kitchen table, using the wall to pull himself up to his feet. He beheld the horrified look on his wife's face, and put forth the bravest countenance he could manage through the pain. "Take our sons and flee," Teal'c implored, knowing he could only delay the drone. "Contact the Tau'ri, tell them what happened. We will need their aid."

"Teal'c, I…" Ishta was fighting back tears, trying not to let her children see how terrified she was.

"GO!" Teal'c yelled, and then turned around. With a mighty bellow of rage, he charged the Kull warrior, grabbing the creature's wrists so that it could not fire at Ishta or his children. His rage gave him strength enough to drive the creature back several steps into the kitchen, and he let loose with a flurry of blows, striking the creature in the stomach where the metallic plates did not protect. Despite several of his strongest punches landing in the creature's softer armor, it didn't show any ill effect. Once it regained its footing, it struck Teal'c in the stomach, dropping the Free Jaffa to his knees. Then a Jaffa in a red and gold cloak stepped in behind the Kull and put Teal'c out with a shot from a zat'nik'tel. Several more Jaffa entered, rolling Teal'c over and fastening him in chains.

The Kull stood at ease as the cloaked Jaffa produced a gray sphere from the folds of his cloak. He brought the communicator online, turning it so only he could see who was on the other end. "My lord," the cloaked man said, "We have the shol'va Teal'c."

"And his family?" a deep, distorted voice demanded on the other end.

"Escaped, I'm afraid," the cloaked Jaffa said.

"Unfortunate, but not unforgivable," the voice said. "You have done well in capturing the shol'va. Your God is pleased."

"Thank you, my lord," the man said, relieved he would not be punished for losing Ishta and her children.

"Have the shol'va brought to my ship," the voice commanded. "It is time he was brought before his God."


	3. Chapter 3

P4X-281's Stargate sat inside the massive bore hole of the Asgardian mining facility; it had been drilled directly into the side of the mountain. Perfectly circular, it was exceptionally large: three hundred feet high, and roughly two kilometers from the cave mouth to the mining face. The bottom of the circular hole had been flattened to make for a workable floor.

Dr. Cassandra Frasier and Major Jennifer Hailey sat inside the main control center, built into the rock wall of the artificial cave. Hailey had pried the main console open and was working on a tablet linked into the wires through a custom-built interface clamped into the lines. Cassandra leaned into the window, watching the people below. Ronon Dex was helping a small team of Marines and engineers set up a command post between the mouth of the cave and the Stargate.

Hailey sighed as she glanced over to Cassandra. "You know, you might actually try talking to him," she admonished.

"What?" Cassandra stammered, turning, wide-eyed to face Hailey.

"Ronon," Hailey said, without looking up from her work. "This whole admiring him from afar thing is really painful to watch."

Cassandra felt a blush spread like fire from her cheeks to her ears and down her neck. "I'm not admiring him from...any...distance," she insisted.

"Uh-huh," Hailey said, clipping the leads from her tablet to a different set of wires.

"I'm not!" Cassandra insisted.

"It's only logical," Hailey assured her. "You two spend a lot of time together."

"We work together," Cassie countered.

"Not just work," Hailey contended.

"He's my hand-to-hand instructor," Cassie said.

"Yes, because he's the only one who presents you with a challenge," Hailey finally looked up. "Given your enhanced physiological capabilities from Nirrti's experiments, and his natural Satedan strength, speed, and reflexes. Look, I see it. You're both aliens, you're both stronger, faster, and more physically capable than most of your peers. You're a capable fighter, which is important in his culture; he's less likely to be intimidated by you than an Earth man would be. You're both of a similar age."

"Actually, I don't know how old Ronon is," Cassandra admitted.

"Neither does he. Satedan years are a little different, and he lost exact track while he was a runner, but our best estimate is between 34 to 36 Earth years," Hailey told her. "I can see why you admire him. But I can tell you that he won't look at you that way unless you make him. Satedan men don't like docile women. You have to indicate your interest, get his attention."

"Look at me what way?" Cassie demanded.

Finally, Hailey looked up from her work, casting her eyes towards Cassandra, whose own gaze lingered out the window. "The way you're looking at him right now."

"Shut up," Cassie snapped, turning around. She was still slightly flushed with color as she looked into the opened Asgardian command console.

"Colonel Carter and General O'Neill's wedding is the perfect excuse to engage him on a social level," Jennifer implored her friend.

"Let's just worry about this," Cassie insisted, looking down into the mass of wires and crystals. "Do we even know for sure what this does?"

"I think this console commands the drills," Hailey postulated. "It looks like this facility was set up to be run by a single Asgard. It's mostly automated. If I'm right, they would have sat here and run the whole operation." Major Hailey called up a series of schematics on her tablet, the first being a giant drill, like the one wedged in the shaft at the far end of the cave. The machine was massive, about the size of a commercial airliner without the wings. It had tank-like treads mounted all around the cylindrical surface of the machine. The schematic showed the trinium alloy drill head at the front of the device. "The drill funnels trinium ore into this chamber at the back. When it's full, it comes out of the shaft, and those arms descend from the ceiling to disconnect the storage chamber. They put it onto one of these truck things and then it gets unloaded into these cars that go through the Stargate. Meanwhile, another storage canister is attached to the drill and it goes right back to work. It looks like there are six drills you can command from here."

"So are we just getting the drill out of the mine shaft?" Cassandra asked.

"Ideally, we get the facility up and running," Jennifer countered.

"We could mine it with Earth equipment," Cassandra offered.

"I'd like to save that for the last resort," Major Hailey admitted as she undid the band holding her hair back in a bun. She shook her hair free, only to gather it back up to so she could start packing it into a tighter bun. She stuck the hair tie in her teeth and spoke around it as she worked her blonde tresses, winding them around themselves. "Our mining methods are much less efficient than the Asgard's." She took the band and looped it around the new bun, doubling it and closing it around to secure it in place. "The Asgard machines can do in a month what Earth methods would do in a year."

"Okay, so we get this working," Cassandra said.

"And then you go talk to Ronon," Hailey said with a smirk. Cassie threw a pen at the major, prompting her to laugh.

Ronon was helping assemble prefabricated corrugated steel buildings with the Marines and the engineers who had come with SG-1 on General Carter's orders. A team of geologists manned a small drilling rig, taking perfectly cylindrical core samples from the ground further into the cave. He glanced up toward the metallic building dug into the side of the cave and spotted Cassandra overseeing the assembly of the base camp, but her attention was soon drawn away.

Ronon left the steel building to have a look around the rest of the site. The cave entrance was about half a kilometer from where he'd ordered the forward perimeter to be set up. A pair of shielded M134 miniguns were mounted inside semicircular stacks of sand bags at either corner of a chalk line marking where a fence would be put up in a few days. A line of hip-high sandbags extended between the two M134 emplacements, behind which a pair of rail turrets were being built. Ronan put his fingers into his mouth and let loose a loud whistle, gesturing to the Captain who was in command of the on-site Marines to come speak with him.

The Marine ran over, dutifully snapping to attention a few feet from the large Satedan. "Sir," he barked, in that way that only a United States Marine can.

"Captain," Ronon began, "What do you think of the idea of putting land mines from the perimeter out towards the cave entrance?"

"Sound idea sir," the man replied. "That's the only way trouble can come from unless it beams in, but we'll set up a jammer for that. I figure we can mine the hell out of it and not worry too much."

"You do have mines you can activate and deactivate at will, right?" Ronon asked.

"Yes sir," the Marine Captain replied.

"Cause the only people I want coming in from there are our guys bringing supplies from one of our ships," Ronon. "So I want to be able to turn them off when the supplies come, but on for anyone else."

"That can be done, sir," The Marine said.

"Task some men to get started on that," Ronon ordered. "I'll tell Carter to requisition the mines and send a jammer when we check in," he paused to check his watch, "In 40 minutes."

"Yes, sir!"

Ronon moved towards the mouth of the cave, raising his canteen and drinking the still-cool water as he looked idly out towards the planet beyond the cave. As he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, he turned back towards the burgeoning settlement and heard something that made him spin right back around to focus on the cave's mouth. A low, long whine from a jet engine. Make that several jet engines. He picked up the shapes outside of the cave. The tel'tak he recognized from dealings with the Lucien Alliance. The escort vessels looked like death gliders, ships he'd only seen in Free Jaffa hangars; he'd never encountered one in the field until now. He keyed his radio mic and ran back towards the building site, "WE'VE GOT INCOMING, FOUR DEATH GLIDERS AND A TRANSPORT SHIP!"

Two gliders accelerated away from the tel'tak firing their staff cannons at the camp. The bolts of energy struck the ground, energy radiated explosively from the impacts, leaving scorch marks in their wake. The gliders quickly overshot Ronon, who hopelessly fired his particle magnum at them. The gliders destroyed the nascent steel structures, killing several of the engineers hiding behind them for cover. A few of the Marines were scattered in the attack, the rest were up and firing at gliders as they passed overhead. "Dial the Stargate!" Ronon barked at one of the engineers. "You three, cover him!" He grabbed his radio. "Hailey, Frasier, get down here, we're leaving!"

"Copy, Ronon," Cassie said. "Jennifer, we're out of here!"

"On it," Hailey yelled, stowing her gear into her backpack. She swung the bag around to her back, forcing her arms into the straps. Then she took up her P90 and undid the safety. Cassandra already had hers ready as they headed for the exit.

The Marines' M4 fire bounced harmlessly off the death gliders. Even the M249's had little effect. One of the M134s had been blown up in the first pass, the Marine manning the other had been killed. Ronon sprinted to that gun, shoving the dead man out of the way so he could pivot it around as the gliders crossed under one another and came back towards the camp. Four Marines labored to get a pair of AT4 missile launchers out of locked crates and ready to fire. "You two, take the one on the right," Ronan growled. He sighted in the minigun on the other death glider and squeezed the trigger, focusing the stream of fire on the cockpit. The canopy shattered under the stream of fire, which tore through the pilot and sent the aircraft spiraling off into the cave wall. The Marines loaded up the launchers and fired as the second glider passed overhead, blowing a pair of substantial holes in the fuselage and causing the glider to break up in the air and hit the ground in a spectacular ball of fire.

The two remaining gliders hugged the tel'tak and laid down a heavy volume of cover fire. "How's the gate coming?" Ronon demanded.

"Hawkins took a hit dialing during the first pass," the Marine Captain replied, "Dialing now, sir!"

"Fall back to the gate," Ronon ordered, bringing the minigun and its stand with him.

The death gliders fired along the most direct line to the gate while the tel'tak hovered over the ruins of the camp. Ronon and the SCG personnel scattered from the staff cannon fire. The rear ramp of the tel'tak opened. Two Kull Warriors were at the head of two dozen jaffa. The jaffa headed towards the Stargate, the two warriors headed for the mine's control center.

"Jen, are those what I think they are?" Cassandra asked, gesturing towards the Anubis drones.

"Holy," Hailey's breath was stolen after the first word as she beheld the terrifying sight. "They're between us and the gate." Cassie raised her P90 and fired a long burst into one of the drone's chest plates. "That's not going to do any good," Jennifer warned Cassandra. "Ronon, we could use a hand here!"

Ronon set the M134 down and spun it around to face the oncoming jaffa as the Stargate opened. "Marine, man this gun!" One of the young Marines let his M4 dangle from its strap and started firing the minigun at the jaffa. Ronon took off towards the Kull Warriors. The dark figures fired their wrist blasters at the women, driving them towards cover, and keeping them from the Stargate.

"SG-1, this is Stargate command, what's your status?" Harriman called through the radios from Earth.

"SGC, this is Major Hailey of SG-1," Jennifer replied. "We're under attack. Two death gliders, a tel'tak, about two dozen Jaffa and two Anubis drones."

"SG-1, this is General Samantha Carter," came a shocked voice over the radio. "Say your last again?"

"Two death gliders, one tel'tak, two dozen Jaffa and two Anubis drone warriors," Jennifer Hailey repeated.

"Roger SG-1, sending backup," Carter replied. Back at Stargate Command the Stargate was shut down. "Get ready to redial P4X-281," Carter shouted to Herriman.

"Ma'am, request permission to lead the counter-attack" Colonel Sheppard pleaded.

"Yeah," Carter replied. "Take SG-2 and SG-7 and ready a Marine strike team."

"I'm on it," Sheppard said as he ran out of the control room.

"Daniel, head down to the armory," Carter began before Daniel cut her off.

"And dig the Kull disruptors out of mothballs, got it," Dr. Jackson said, finishing her sentence on his own way out of the control room.

Ronon Dex fired his particle magnum into the backs of the Kull Warriors, accomplishing nothing. They didn't even turn around. He leaped into the back of one of them, grappling it to the ground face first. He brought his gun up to the back of the thing's head and fired, but that shot didn't have any effect either. Ronon had to dive aside as the second warrior turned and fired on him.

"None of that's going to work," Hailey informed the Satedan.

"I see that," Ronon replied. He drew his sword and waded in, trying to at least keep one of the drones focused on him. He zig-zagged around the incoming fire to strike at the Kull's arm, but his sword bounced off. Ronon ducked under a retaliatory punch, parried another swing with his sword, and grabbed the warrior by its wrist. The creature was strong enough to pull Ronon off balance with one arm. Ronon wasn't trying to out-muscle the creature, however, so he held on as it jerked him inward, then he twisted and pulled at the thing's wrist blaster, tearing it from the armor. His triumph was short-lived, as the thing straightened its arm and sent Ronon tumbling away.

"We need bigger guns," Cassandra told Hailey.

"Down at the camp, there might still be some HEAT rounds for the AT4's," Hailey said as she ducked behind a piece of Asgardian mining equipment.

"Will those work?" Cassie asked, under fire from the drone.

"If we can hit it in the secondary layer, maybe," Major Hailey guessed.

Cassandra raised up just high enough to glance at the Kull Ronon had engaged one with his sword, dancing around the creatures broad strikes, and parrying its blows with his sword. The sheer strength of the Kull warrior meant that he was rapidly losing ground. "Ronon won't last long," Cassie surmised with a frown. "I'll distract this one, you head for the camp."

"Me?" Hailey exclaimed. "You're the better sprinter!"

"Yes," Cassie concurred, "I'm also much more capable of lasting toe-to-toe with that thing than you are.

"Right," Hailey nodded. "Be careful."

Cassandra jumped out from her cover and leaped at the second Anubis drone, hitting it in the face with a flying reverse roundhouse, followed by a hook kick with her other foot before she hit the ground. Cassie's enhanced strength was just enough to snap the creature's head back and make it stumble for half a step, and Hailey took off running in that instant.

Ronon was losing ground trying to dance and block the mighty warrior's blows. Every punch the thing threw would have qualified as the hardest punch he'd been hit with in his life if it connected. He was backpedaling towards the firefight at the Stargate, which wasn't going well. The six remaining Marines had been driven back behind the gate, ducking behind the raised dais upon which it rested for cover. It was only the salvaged M134 that served to even the odds. The death gliders were reluctant to shoot at the gate, keeping the Marines pinned behind it, which meant that the soldiers had run out of ground to give to the jaffa.

Suddenly the Stargate opened and the unstable vortex shot out from the other side. Flashbangs were tossed, and after they exploded out poured more SGC Marines. The first wave of them came down the ramp laying down suppression fire. Staff blasts struck down two of them, but that didn't stem the tide of the 30 or so who poured out. SG-2 and SG-7 followed them, bolstering the fire towards the Jaffa's position. Behind them, Colonel John Sheppard and Dr. Daniel Jackson came, brandishing the guns Jacob and Samantha Carter had made to neutralize the Anubis drones several years ago. Four Marines peeled off from the main group, raising Stinger missile launchers and firing them at the death gliders as they arced away from the fight under heavy fire. Two missiles struck one in the back, and it flew straight into the roof of the massive cave, leaving little more than a scorch mark and raining debris. The other one took a hit in the wing and went into an unrecoverable spiral out of the mouth of the cave.

Major Jennifer Hailey ran past the main body of the fight and into the remains of the camp. One of the armored jaffa turned to face her, but a concentrated burst from her P90 put him down. She slid behind the wreckage of what was supposed to become the armory and began throwing open heavy duty supply crates. Finally, she found part of what she was looking for: a small crate containing two High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) missiles for the AT4 launchers. One had been damaged in the fight, but the other was still good. "Cassie, I've got the missile," she announced.

"Little busy," Cassie reminded her friend as she backflipped under a three punch combination from the Kull.

"Right," Hailey scolded herself for her stupidity under her breath and looked around the wreckage of the camp. She finally spotted one of the AT4 launchers that had been discarded when the camp was overtaken. She grabbed the launcher, loaded the shell into it, and slung the weapon across her back via the carrying strap.

Colonel Sheppard elbowed Daniel Jackson to direct his attention to Ronon's one-sided battle with the Anubis drone. "Jackson, three o-clock."

"Yep, I see it," he said, raising his weapon in unison with John.

"Ronon," John called, "Hit the deck, we've got the guns that kill these things." Ronon didn't reply over the radio, he did launch a massive front kick into the Kull's chest, and used the momentum to turn himself around and run away from the fearsome black-clad warrior. Once he felt he was far enough away he dove to the ground, clearing the firing line for Daniel and John who raised the Kull disruptors and fired. The blue beams hit the Kull square, and it simply turned to face them. "Wait, what?"

"That's not supposed to happen," Daniel Jackson said flatly.

"No, really?" John exclaimed. He raised the weapon and fired five or six more shots, all of which didn't do anything. Neither did the shots Daniel fired. "We're not doing anything but pissing him off, Jackson."

"We're not even doing that," Daniel replied.

The Kull warrior raised its remaining blaster, preparing to fire at Daniel and John, but Ronon jumped up and grabbed it's wrist with all his might, deflecting the shots. Ronon brandished his sword and hacked at the creature's remaining weapon, smashing it under several heavy blows. For his trouble, Ronon absorbed a crushing blow to the sternum, only to have his head grabbed and pulled down into the creature's knee with enough force to flip him up into the air and land on his back.

"All squads," Sheppard called over the radio, "Anti-drone weapons are ineffective. Repeat, anti-drone weapons ineffective. Marines focus on the drones, SG's 2 and 7 mop up the jaffa."

"Roger that, Colonel," one of the men from SG-7 replied. "The Jaffa are bugging out anyway."

"Form a defensive flank but do not pursue," Sheppard ordered.

"Hailey, did you hear that," Cassandra said through her labored breathing. "The disruptors didn't work."

"Now you want to chat?" Hailey chided. "Here's hoping this does. Cassie, I have the launcher, I need you to move so I have a shot."

"I'll lay him out for you," Cassandra answered.

"Negative," Hailey argued. "Get clear."

"Would your odds be better if you could hit him in the stomach, in the cloth layer?" Cassie asked.

"Well, yes," Hailey admitted.

"Then I'll line him up for you," Cassandra repeated. "Fire on my mark, danger close. Don't worry, the armor should contain most of the blast."

Cassandra caught one of the drone's swinging arms and let it lift her off the ground. She swung around its arm like a jungle gym and flipped into the air out of its outstretched grasp to land on its shoulders with her legs wrapped around its neck. She didn't stay long, moving as the powerful hands grasped at her ankles. Cassie swung her leg over the creature's head, and grabbed the thing's helmet, sinking her fingers into the eye slits to secure her grip. Keeping her feet together, she pushed off it's back and swung across the creature's torso. The creature, though powerful, wasn't powerful enough to withstand a fully-grown woman using its neck for a trapeze. Being a human form, the body followed where its head led it. Cassie's swing forced it to pivot in place twisting around to face Jennifer Hailey and her missile launcher. Cassie's feet hit the ground briefly, she transferred her hands to its shoulders and pushed up into a handstand, then she flipped around behind it, planting her feet in the small of its back and kicking with all her enhanced strength to make the Kull stumble forwards a step or two.

"NOW, JEN!" Cassie called as she hit the ground running for one of the abandoned transit carts strewn around the Asgard mine. Jennifer pulled the trigger as Cassandra dove behind the heavy piece of equipment. The armor-piercing shell struck the Kull in the cloth layer over it's abdomen, tearing through and exploding inside of it milliseconds later. The explosion disintegrated the form inside the armor and even shredded the chest piece and the helmet. The gauntlets, greaves, and pauldrons were blown free from the blast, lightly scorched but otherwise undamaged. After a moment, Cassie poked her head up from her hiding spot. "Tango down," she said. "Nice shot."

Though disarmed, the remaining Kull warrior wasn't any less of a threat. The SGC soldier's bullets were just bouncing off it as it advanced like Jason Vorhees on a pack of helpless teenagers at Camp Crystal Lake. Even 40mm grenades from the launchers slung underneath the Marines' M4 rifles only made it stumble backward for a couple of steps.

"Any ideas?" John asked Daniel.

"No," Daniel said as he and John backpedaled with the rest of the troops.

"Colonel Sheppard, come in sir," Major Hailey said into the radio.

"This is Sheppard," he replied, "What have you got, Hailey?"

"Sir, if you can get a HEAT round into its belly, you can disintegrate that thing," Hailey said as she regrouped with Cassandra.

"We didn't bring any more," Sheppard said as he formed up on the firing line the Marines had set up.

"Why not?" Hailey snapped.

"Because we brought anti-that thing guns," Sheppard answered. "That's what they're literally called. So I thought if we had anti-that thing guns, they would anti THAT THING! I blame Jackson."

"They should have worked," Daniel objected. "The only reason they wouldn't is if those aren't Anubis drones under the armor."

"They don't disable the armor?" Cassandra asked skeptically.

"We never did figure out how to consistently get around the armor," Daniel answered. "Missiles and trinium darts could get through in some cases, but it became more practical to short out the devices keeping the drones alive."

The sound of more pointless gunfire drowned out that side of the conversation. Cassie and Hailey regrouped around Ronin, who was still shaking off the effects of his fight with the Kull. "Are you alright?" Cassie asked as she and Hailey helped him to his feet.

"That thing hits harder than Teal'c," Ronon said as he caught his breath, wincing. "Think I cracked some ribs," he announced. "You guys get the other one?"

"We did, " Hailey informed him. "But we don't have any more anti-tank rounds."

"Can we get some from SGC?" Ronon asked.

"Not in time," Hailey said as she pointed over to the firing line. As she expected, the Kull Warrior was tossing Marines and SG-2 around like children as the others retreated further. For a brief moment, the Marines swarmed around the creature, looking as though their numbers might overpower it until it sent them flying with a swing of its powerful arms. The creature quickly focused on Colonel Sheppard and Daniel Jackson.

"Uh, guys," John said into his radio. "I hope you've thought of something, cause we've got nothing up here."

"I'm sorry sir, I…" Jennifer went quiet as she watched the Kull chase her Commanding Officer and Dr. Jackson.

"You, what?" Daniel demanded frantically.

"She just got an idea," Cassie answered.

"Yes sir," Hailey affirmed. "See if you can lure it to the Stargate."

"Luring isn't the problem," Sheppard replied. "Be ready fast."

"Ronon, do you think you can charge that thing one time and blindside it?" Hailey asked.

"Like JJ Watt?" The big man asked, to blank stares from Cassie and Hailey. "He's a football guy Sheppard makes me watch," Ronon explained. "Yeah, I can do it."

"Okay, wait over there behind the MALP," Major Hailey told him. "When he's even with the ramp, hit him with everything you've got. Cassie…"

"I think I see what you want," Cassandra announced, grabbing up two six shot M32 grenade launchers from fallen Marines. She checked to make sure they were loaded and then turned to Hailey. "You dial."

"I don't think I'm going to have time to fire one of those after I hit the thing," Ronon protested, gesturing to the two grenade launchers Hailey was carrying.

"You won't," Cassandra agreed. "They're both for me," she announced.

Ronon's brows arched and he gave Cassie a little smirk as she let one of the launchers hang from her shoulders, and readied the other one. He retreated behind the MALP as Hailey and Cassie headed for the DHD. "That's one way to get his attention," Hailey taunted her.

"Oh shut up!" Cassie said, elbowing her comrade.

Sheppard and Jackson had discarded the useless Kull disruptors as the remaining Kull chased them back towards the Stargate. They led the thing up from the side, climbing the dais from the side. Daniel was a little slower than he'd have liked, needing Sheppard to pull him up the side just before the black-armored creature would have smashed him with a shoulder charge. The creature followed them up onto the pedestal. John and Daniel detoured down the ramp, knowing they wouldn't be able to get down the other side of the dais quickly enough. Without warning, Ronon burst forth from his hiding place on a dead run. He was so quick, he nearly flattened Daniel and John, who dove off either side of the ramp like split bowling pins as Ronon lowered his shoulder and caught the Kull warrior right under the armpit, upending the behemoth and sending him flying back up the ramp. The impact forced Ronon to his knees.

"Someone grab him," Cassie ordered as she and Hailey popped up from behind the DHD. Sheppard scrambled to his feet and pulled Ronon off the side of the ramp as the Kull got to its feet. Cassandra advanced up the ramp, firing the M32 into its chest to stagger it backward. Her second shot hit it in the face plate, spinning it around and making it take several steps up the ramp. She fired the other grenades into it's back quickly. BoomBoomBoomBoom! She quickly tossed the empty launcher aside and brought the second one up to fire. The creature didn't have time to turn around as she kept hitting it in the back with grenades, forcing the creature to stagger closer to the top of the ramp with each shot. All the while, Hailey had dialed seven chevrons but hadn't engaged the Stargate. The drone stumbled in front of the Stargate and spun around, lowering as if to pounce. "Hit it, Hailey." Before the creature could react, Cassandra hit him in the face with the last grenade, causing it to stumble back as the unstable vortex exploded from the activating Stargate, vaporizing the cursed thing from the knees up.


End file.
